The Uncultured Saints

There are two big places in the Old Testament where Jesus is undeniably present and foreshadowed.  One, of course, is the Passover Feast and the paschal lamb.  The other is the Day of Atonement.  This day, found in the middle of Leviticus is the center of worship for the Old Testament Israelites.  It happened only once a year, but it was so important that this day was the only day that the Most Ho...

What is to be done with a prophet who doesn’t want to be a prophet?  What is to be done with a man who would rather die than see his enemies receive the Gospel of Christ Jesus?  What is to be done with a scoundrel who even after he is raised out of the depths of Sheol, maybe even from death itself, still despises the things of forgiveness and life eternal for the other guy?  Well, oddly enough, th...

Ever wondered what it would be like to be banished from the things of God just because of who you are?  The Ethiopian Eunuch knew this all too well.  Returning from his failed trip to Jerusalem, where he had hoped to worship the one true God, this man is faced with a God who is truly there for Him.  His eunuch-ness had kept him, had prevented him, from the things of the Temple, but Philip has a ne...

Naaman was a great man, even if he was a heathen.  Everything that he had ever put his mind to he had accomplished.  But he had done it all through the sweat of his own brow and the works of his own hands.  Unfortunately, for the first time in his life, he is faced with something that he is powerless to defeat.  But he receives a Word from a slave girl about a God who is for him.  He goes to find...

We find another scoundrel in the Old Testament.  This is no surprise, of course, the Old Testament is littered with scoundrels, as is the New.  Jacob had found it difficult to stand in the promises of God.  He isn’t unique in this sin, for we all innately doubt the gracious promises of our Lord.  We can’t for the life of us belief that these promises are free.  We always think that God needs a hel...

Back by unpopular demand, the Uncultured Saints brings you Season Deux: Parables. You might have heard it said that parables are “earthly stories with a heavenly meaning.” Maybe this is true, but perhaps a better way to look at them is as “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” And if they are mysteries then they can’t be about ethics or morals….though this is how we treat them most of the time. Ins...

A man goes out to sow. He doesn’t seem like he is very good at his job, just throwing caution and seed to the wind. The seed falls everywhere: on the path to be eaten, on the rocks and amongst thorns to quickly die, and yes, some falls on the good ground, too. You would think that the sower would be more careful with His seed. You would think that He would scatter it where He was sure that it woul...

More sowing, just like the last time. Except here there is just a field; a field with good seed sown by a good man. But then his enemy comes and sows tares amongst the wheat; right overtop, intertwined. What’s to be done? That is the question the servants want to know. They see the problem and they want it fixed. But the man says, “No.” The time is not right for the tares to be uprooted, and besid...

A man and his pearl. I suppose the only way that you can tell how much value something has is to see how much someone is willing to pay for it. For the man in our text this pearl that he finds is worth more than anything, literally. He goes and sells all that he has and then buys it. The previous man did the same with a field where buried treasure was known to be found…So obviously Jesus is trying...

A billion quadrillion dollars, that is how much the first guy owed the king. More than could ever be paid, but he thinks that he is good for it. He is sure that he could pay it back. So when his debt is released he doesn’t see it as grace, but as something he deserved; or perhaps he believed that he pulled one over on the king. And that is why he goes out in search for his own retribution. Debts m...

Don’t read this parable without reading the set up, otherwise you will get it wrong. And we often time get it wrong. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” we ask. Well, if that is our question then the answer will be one that is too great to follow. “Be the Good Samaritan, to everyone that you meet, all the time, 24/7, with no exceptions. Do that, and you will inherit eternal life.”…But after...

Another parable of warning; of warning, but of great comfort too. A wedding feast is prepared. Good food and good drink for all to come and enjoy. You would think that the invitation would be enough, that we wouldn’t have to be reminded. But the self-righteous sinner doesn’t care all that much for a wedding feast in which things are given out for free. The self-righteous sinner always has somethin...

It’s a story about redemption; about redemption and sacrifice, forgiveness and mercy. A son wishing his father was dead and his brother was no longer a brother. That same son denouncing his sonship in Israel, casting his lot in with the Gentiles and the pig farmers. A father who loves his son so much that he gives an inheritance that shouldn’t be given; and he doesn’t think twice. An older brother...

A parable about stewardship, if stewardship was about taking other peoples money and giving it away. We might have the most difficult time with this parable because the dishonest manager is praised for his shrewdness, he is praised for doing that which is not right. Perhaps that is why this parable is one of the best examples to show that parables are not about morals and ethics or about becoming...

Jesus isn’t in this parable, not explicitly. We do have Abraham alluding to the resurrection and the Law and the prophets speaking about the Messiah. So yeah, He is there. But this is also the only parable that has a name: Lazarus. Might that be a clue? Might that be where we should begin? Yes, there is that whole thing about a great divide that can’t be crossed. And that is true. But the name is...

Pray enough and you will force God’s hand. Isn’t that what this parable seems to be about? How else could we take it? But then we have to rectify an unrighteous judge standing as the Jesus figure, and that is just weird. But is it any weirder than Jesus hiding away a treasure and swindling the owner of the field out of it? Or Jesus being a dishonest manager that gives away his master’s money and i...

Here is perhaps the most straightforward parable of them all. We know who Jesus is: He is the son that is murdered. We get that. And perhaps we should just leave it at that, because there is still the mystery of the father sending his son, knowing full well that he will end up dead. What sort of father is this? What sort of father would sacrifice his son like that? …I think we know the answer to t...

Each of the ten virgins wants to get into the wedding feast. They are all there, all prepared, at least prepared for the rational. Some are prepared for the irrational and have lugged along extra oil for their lamps. Knowing this, we start scouring the parable to figure out the specifics. What is the oil? What is the lamp? But none of that matters, because none of that gets the virgins into the we...

Here is the second to last parable Jesus ever teaches His disciples. It is the middle of Holy Week. The Triumphal Entry has taken place and in a few short days Jesus will be strung up on a cross. And so at this crucial time Jesus makes certain to gather His disciples aside in order to teach them about…stewardship…No, that can’t be right…Stewardship is important, but it isn’t a mystery of the kingd...

Make sure that you are a sheep. Or at least make sure that you are not a goat. Judgment Day is coming and you must be certain to find yourself in the right flock. But if we start looking at our works to assure us of our place amongst the sheep we will find ourselves amongst the goats asking, “But when didn’t we…?” Demand that God looks at your works and uses them as a checklist for your entrance i...

What’s the big deal about saying my nature is sinful or my nature is corrupted by original sin? It seems like a puny detail to focus on…but it’s really not. If we get this wrong, it messes up all our theology. Sin isn’t just the actions we do, it’s hereditary, a fatal disease we ALL inherit. And yet, sin is not who we are, it’s a condition we have. Original sin means that something has changed fro...

In spite of all the smiles and material successes, at the end of the day, most of us know we’re not doing or being our best selves. We can always do better. There is a huge chasm between who we are and who we want to be. The entire self-help industry has been built up to try and bridge that divide. When Christians talk about sin, the world hears it as a religion trying to prevent people from fully...

When we change the clear words and teachings of Scripture to make things more palatable for sinners, the meanings change too. We actually begin to believe we can say things better and more logically than God’s Word. Applied to the doctrine of original sin, the way we talk about sin affects the way we talk about God. If God wants things to be this corrupted, sinful way and does nothing about it He’...

We can make choices about all sorts of things in our lives. But the theological doctrine of free will is not about whether you can choose what to eat for breakfast or which color shirt to put on. It’s about whether we’re able to contribute anything to our own salvation, whether we can choose to believe, whether we can "help" God help us. When it comes to worldly things, we are free to make choices...

Justification is a fancy $5 church-word that makes us sound smart when we use it. But what does it mean? It’s all about how we are saved and made right before God. As sinners, we look to ourselves — our choices and our actions — to gauge whether we really are Christians and measure how we’re doing to stay Christians. That’s probably not the best way to go about things. It actually gets dark and tw...